Ryan Prosser
Published March 8, 2026 4:08pm
Updated March 8, 2026 4:28pm
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Ian Huntley’s funeral will likely be a low-key cremation paid for by the taxpayer, a former Met Police superintendent has said (Picture: Shutterstock)
Taxpayers may foot the bill for a £3,000 cremation service for Ian Huntley following a row over his next of kin.
With family members reportedly not wishing to claim the body of the child killer, the state may be forced to step in to give him his final rites.
Huntley, who killed two young girls in Soham, Cambridgeshire, was hit on the skull by an inmate with a metal pole while serving time at HMP Frankland, dubbed the ‘Monster Mansion’.
Anthony Russell, 43, a triple killer, was widely cited as a prime suspect for the attack, which reportedly happened in an altercation during a workshop.
He was put into a coma and his family agreed to withdraw his life support on Friday.
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Russell reportedly shouted ‘I’ve done it, I’ve done it. I’ve killed him, I’ve killed him’, as fellow inmates cheered as he was handcuffed.
Huntley’s mother, Lynda Richards, 71, was said to be at his bedside in hospital as his support was switched off.
The taxpayer is now expected to pick up the cost of cremating the 52-year-old.
Huntley’s biological daughter Samantha Bryan said the double child killer should not be afforded a funeral and his ashes should be ‘thrown down the toilet’ (Picture: Shutterstock)
Ministry of Justice guidelines state that prisons must contribute up to £3,000 to the cost of funerals for deceased inmates in the absence of a pre-paid funeral plan set up by their family.
Reasonable expenses include hiring a hearse, purchase of a coffin, undertaker fees and payment of a religious or faith leader, but exclude other costs such as floral tributes and the headstone.
Huntley’s daughter Samantha Bryan indicated her objection to any ceremony for her father, suggesting any funeral would be ‘pointless’ and his ashes should be ‘thrown down the toilet’.
Her mother Katie also expressed disgust at any possibility that Huntley would be afforded a resting place.
Nusrit Mehab, a former Met Police superintendent, said that Huntley’s body would normally be released to his next of kin but it would ultimately fall to the state to carry out a low cost funeral if his family refused to claim him.
A police cordon around Huntley’s home in Soham, Cambridgeshire (Picture: PA)
He told the Mirror that it would be a low-key affair with no public service and would most likely be a cremation in order to avoid giving him a grave.
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‘There’d be no public ceremony and it will likely be a quiet cremation rather than a funeral, in my experience’, he said.
The former superintendent added that while ashes are routinely handed to the family, they could be scattered by the council, or even marked as unclaimed and stored.
If the state were to dispose of his remains, it would be done ‘very quietly’ so as to avoid attracting attention to a high profile criminal, he said.
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